By opening one man's eyes to the world... he opened his own. Robert De Niro (in an Oscar®-nominated performance) and Robin Williams star in this powerful, true story of a maverick doctor and the patients whose lives he changes.
Williams plays Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a shy research physician who uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. De Niro co-stars as Leonard, the first patient to receive the controversial treatment.
His awakening, filled with awe and enthusiasm, proves a rebirth for Sayer too, as the exuberant patient reveals life's simple but unutterably sweet pleasures to the introverted doctor.